The Last Summer

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen..... Waverly

I entered the Corelli house and sighed. It was kind of scary to have all those strangers surrounding me, wishing me a happy birthday. "Jaycob?" I called, searching for the reason that I came here for. I went to the basement, knowing that it was his favorite room in the whole house. I found a couple making out on the couch. "Oh sorry." I said. They pulled apart, and I almost died when I saw that it was Jaycob and Cassandra. "No." I whispered weakly. I tried to run up the stairs as fast as I could, but I tripped along the way.

"Waverly, wait!" Jaycob yelled. "It's not what it seems!" I picked myself up and started blindly running away again. I yanked the front door open and smacked right into Kayleb. Another round of sobs racked my body as he wordlessly picked me up off the ground and held me tight.

"Do you wanna tell me what happened?" he asked sweetly.

"Waverly, stop!" Jaycob slid to a stop in front of Kayleb and me. "Please. I didn't do it on purpose. I pulled away from Kayleb's warm embrace.

"Yeah? What happened then? Did you trip and then 'accidently touch mouths'?" I hollered. "I knew it was too good to be true." I wailed and turned back to Kayleb's warm embrace.

"Don't touch her!" A voice from behind us yelled. We all turned around to see Jace standing in the lawn with a baseball bat in hand.

"Jace, I have a restraining order against you! Go away now!" I said firmly although I clung to Kayleb tightly. He swung the bat.

"I don't care! If I can't have you, Princess, then no one can." He howled. Kayleb shoved me behind him. Both Kayleb and Jaycob stood in front of me, trying to protect me from the maniac. Jace took a step forward, bringing the bat up high over Jaycob's head. At the last second Kayleb lunged for Jace, tackling him to the ground, but at the same time, he absorbed the hit that Jace had intended for Jaycob. Blood poured from his skull.

"Help!" I screeched. Jace was knocked out, but I knew it was only temporary and that he could wake up at any second. I scrambled over to Kayleb, ripping off his shirt and using it to staunch the flow of blood from his head. "Do something!" I shrieked at Jaycob. He took off sprinting.

The rest was a blur. I remember being forcefully yanked off of Kayleb by a paramedic. I was hysterical. The police arrested Jace. I was taken to the hospital, and a doctor checked me over. I couldn't think straight. Someone handed me some pills and I swallowed them. Instantly, I felt calm and sleepy.

I woke up sitting in a hospital chair by Kayleb's bed. He had a white bandage wrapped around his head. A nurse came in the room. "You're awake already?" She sounded surprised.

"Yes." I said wide eyed.

"We gave you enough medicine to knock you out for at least two days." She said, looking impressed. "And even after that we couldn't pry you away from him." She said, nodding towards Kayleb. "So we just let you be. I think the rest of your family and friends went home."

"Is he gonna be okay?" I whispered fervently.

"As long as he keeps healing like he is, he should be fine. He's in an induced coma right now so that he will be restricted from touching his head and exerting more damage. We should be reducing the medicine tomorrow, and then it will be up to him when he wakes up." She said reassuringly. I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank you." I said gratefully.

"Hey, it's my job." She said, almost care free. She adjusted some of the knobs and buttons hooked up to Kayleb, and then she left.

I walked over to Kayleb's bed and kneeled beside him. "I am so sorry." I whispered, taking his hand. "I don't know how you will ever forgive me." I said. "I wish that I had honored my feelings about you sooner." A single tear rolled down my cheek. I fell asleep like that.

A couple of hours later, I had been thrown out of the room, and I was forced to wait with Jaycob. Kathleen and my dad had gone to the gift shop to get some balloons for Kayleb. "I'm sorry about what I did. It was unacceptable." He said looking down.

"Yeah, it was." I snapped back.

"I don't suppose there's anyway that you'd take me back?" He asked, giving me a small smile.

The nerve of him! I thought. How could he ever think that I would choose him over Kayleb, especially, after what he did to me! "Jaycob," I smiled sweetly. "There is no way I'll ever take you back. I'd rather die. You've hurt me so much, and it's possible that this wouldn't have happened if I hadn't run away from your cheating butt. You should be grateful that I don't punch you in the face right here and now because if Kayleb wasn't such a good person than you would be lying in that hospital bed!" I spat, tears filled my eyes, but I was so angry that none of them rolled down my cheeks.

Then the doctors came out of the room, and I went back inside. And right before I fell asleep, holding his callused hand once more, a single salty tear rolled down my face.